When you mention Fremont Street, the downtown area of Las Vegas, to someone at one of the newer upscale casinos on the Strip, this is probably what they think of:

Police on Fremont Street

Security On Fremont Street is Tight

The truth is, Fremont Street is as safe as the Strip, just don’t wander off to the surrounding area, which gets dicey rather quickly. Helping to keep Fremont Street safe are a team of bicycle riding police officers, plus each casino has their own security team, fully armed. Unlike many of the security personnel you see at Strip casinos that look like they haven’t been to the gym in a few decades or are past their expiration date, the ones you see at Fremont Street casinos are buff and look more than capable to handle the occasional troublemaker.

Fremont Street is for Gamblers

While people visit the Las Vegas Strip to see Extravagant Shows, eat at Michelin Rated Restaurants and cavort at Swanky Night Clubs, people patronize Fremont Street Casinos for one reason, to gamble. You wouldn’t find a sign memorializing three plus hours long rolls at the Craps Table at a Strip casino: [ Click on Pictures for a Larger View ]

Golden Arm Plaque at the California

Fremont Street casinos have some of the most favorable gambling conditions in Las Vegas, from single deck Blackjack with favorable rules to Video poker with 100+% expected return. Additionally, comps are easier to earn Downtown than on the Strip. While most Strip casinos won’t even rate table players that bet less than $25, on Fremont Street a $25 bettor is practically a high-roller.

Binion's "The Place That Made Poker Famous"

The World Series of Poker originated on Fremont Street at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino, now called just Binions, by Jack Binion in 1970. The first winner Johnny Moss received a silver cup, and presumably bragging rights, as a prize. The prize has grown a bit since then, the 2009 winning prize was $8,546,435.

Binion's Poker Room

Binion's

Fremont Street Nosh

Fremont Street is the home of the 99 cents Shrimp Cocktail at the Golden Gate Casino. (note you have to have a players slot card to get the 99cents price, otherwise the price is $1.99)

Golden Gate $.99 Shrimp Cocktail

The shrimp cocktail is actually better than would guess a$.99 shrimp cocktail to be, and makes for a decent late night nosh. Of course there are other choices for a quick nosh on Fremont Street, like the fresh made burgers at the snack bar at Binions.

Binion's Famous Burgers - Ground Fresh Daily

The Fitzgeralds has the ultimate Doughnut Shop, a Krispy Kreme Store, where they make the doughnuts onsite. At least they did until recently, with the economic downturn they switched to having the doughnuts delivered by truck. Hopefully, they’ll return to making them onsite, fresh warm Krispy Kremes.

Fitzgerald's Krispy Kreme Store

If your idea of great nosh food is Beef Jerky, Fremont Street is the place for you, they have a whole store devoted to all possible variations of this delicacy. In addition to Beef Jerky the stores sells an unbelievable variety of dried fruit and flavored nuts. The store is located about twenty paces off Fremont Street towards the now closed Lady Luck casino.

Beef Jerky Store

Beef Jerky

Asian Goodies

There is a much smaller version of the Beef Jerky store in the California casino, on the second floor, right before the bridge that leads to main Street Station, and next to Lappert’s. Lappert’s is great little ice cream shop, direct from Hawaii. Lappert’s has good quality ice cream with some unique flavors, such as Green Tea and Hana Road, not Rocky Road.

Lappert's Ice Cream

Lappert's Ice Cream: Hana Road and Green Tea

Stop by the California Casino and Say, Aloha!

All Three Boyd properties, (The Fremont, Main Street Station and California) in downtown Las Vegas are favorite destinations for the folks from Hawaii, but of these three, the California is by far the most popular, hence “Aloha Video Poker” Across the pathway from Lappert’s Ice Cream store, there is restaurant specializing in Hawaiian dishes.

Aloha Video Poker

Aloha Specialties Restaurant

Across the Bridge to Main Street Station

A bridge on the second floor of the California connects to Main Street Station, the most themed of all the Downtown properties. While not part of the theme, the most unique part of the Main Street Station decor is the Section of the Berlin Wall, located in the Men’s washroom.

Main Street Station: Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall Slab

Main Street Station is filled with Artifacts and Antiques from around the world, all in the service of simulating a late nineteenth century train station.

Located by the South Entrance is “Goldie’s Window” a stained glass window from The home of Goldie Schiesser. An art dealer wanted to buy the window, which Goldie refused to sell. Finally the art dealer bought the entire house, in order to secure the window. I’m not sure if that says more about the value of the house or the window.

Main Street Station: Goldie's Window

Located in the Rotunda near the bridge to the California Hotel is The Art Nouveau style chandelier from The Figaro Opera House, Paris, France.

Chandelier from Figaro Opera House

Manny Makes the Omelets at Main Street Station

The Main Street Station buffet has won many awards, evidently the buffet as slipped in quality since its award winning days. That’s not to say the buffet is bad, just that the food is nothing special. Except perhaps for the omelets, made by Manny. Manny is famous for chatting-up the customers and putting on a little show as he prepares the omelets. What do you want in your omelet, eggs?

Manny Makes An Omelet

The room is beautiful and spacious, with high ceilings, and an Italian marble statue called Goddess Fortuna, which depicts Lady Luck, holding a set of dice in her uplifted hand and a deck of cards in the other. How Vegas is that?

Goddess Fortuna Statue

The Golden Nugget: A Little Piece of the Strip

Golden Nugget

The most upscale casino on Fremont Street is the Golden Nugget. This is the casino where Steve Wynn started his casino career, and left behind his mother’s recipe for bread pudding, available daily at the buffet.

The Golden Nugget has its very own gold nugget, a 61 pound nugget, big enough to have its own name “Hand of Faith”. The nugget is the largest currently known in existence.

Gold Nugget: "Hand of Faith"

Gold Nugget "Hand of Faith" Plaque

The real attraction at the Golden Nugget is not the gold nugget, but rather the recently renovated $30 million pool, known as The Tank, which is filled with a variety of sharks, and has a slide that travels directly through the Tank. The pool area is open late, and doubles as a lounge area at night.

Golden Nugget: The Tank

Golden Nugget Pool

Fremont Street Comes Alive at Night

Like the Strip, Fremont Street looks a little washed-out during daylight hours, but comes alive at night. The Canopy that covers Fremont Street only serves to increase desolate feeling during the daytime hours, the area looks like a down-on-its-luck Strip Mall.

Fremont Street by Day

Mermaids and $0.99 Deep Fried Twinkies may not make much sense during daylight hours, but deep into the night they become imbued with the frivolous fun that is part of the Fremont Experience.

Mermaids and Deep Fried Twinkies

When the neon lights are on the atmosphere of Fremont Street goes from drab to Glitter Gultch.

Glitter Gultch

The Fremont Street Experience

The Fremont Street Experience, refers to the canopy covered with LEDs that runs the length of Fremont Street. The Canopy was installed in late 1995 and had a $17 million renovation in 2004.

Fremont Street Experience by the Numbers:

Canopy Screen Spans Five Blocks, 1,500 feet

The Screen has 12.5 million LEDs and 180 Strobe Lights

220 Speakers producing 550,000 watts.

Shows are every hour on the hour begin at dusk through midnight.

Average show length 6 minutes

Fremont Street Experience

The light shows are fun, but not exciting enough to warrant a special trip downtown if you are staying on the Strip. Thirty or so years ago, the show would have seemed more unique. One disappointing aspect of the show, is that they mostly repeat the same visuals for each block, rather than utilizing the whole length of the canopy. The few shows that utilize the full length of the canopy, like the one of the space shuttle launch, which shows the shuttle traversing the whole canopy, offer a more dramatic visual.

The Vue Bar on the second floor of Fitzgerald’s has a balcony that overlooks the Fremont Street Experience, and offers unique view of the show.

Fitzgeralds: Vue Bar

Fitzgeralds: View from Vue Bar Balcony

Two stages are on opposite ends of Fremont Street where bands perform on weekends and holidays. with plenty of kiosks selling every conceivable tchotchke in between, making for a festive street fair atmosphere.

If “The Fremont Street Experience” is not reason enough to pull you from the Strip, there are many other reasons to visit Fremont Street, or perhaps stay overnight. The gambling conditions are much more favorable than on the Strip, plus low level players aren’t ignored when it comes to comps. The casinos are closely spaced, making it easy to move from one casino to the next. If you’re staying downtown, you won’t have a miles long walk to your room, should you forget something in the room.

While the dining option are much more limited than on the Strip, there are some decent choices. The Second Street Grill at The Fremont offers upscale American cuisine with an Asian influence, try the Mongolian Rack of Lamb. You could dine at one of the last bastions of an “Old School Vegas” gourmet restaurant at Hugos Cellar, at the Four Queens. There is even a Sushi restaurant, Red Sushi, at the Golden Nugget. While there are no big production shows a la Cirque du Soleil, the dinner show Marriage Can Be Murder gets good reviews.

So, take your own random walk around Fremont Street, and it might become your preferred Vegas destination.

I can tell you right away, WordPerfect doesn’t like CityCenter, an angry red underline greets every rendition of the word. CityCenter, one word, is comprised of roughly 18 million square feet of floor space shared among six buildings and was built at a cost of 8+ Billion dollars. As might be expected for such a large project, the Public Relations hype-machine is running at full bore, but the most interesting aspect of the hype is not so much what is being hyped, as what is being downplayed. You have to look long and hard to find any mention of the casino at Aria, let alone gambling, or gaming as they call it in Vegas.

CityCenter

So, what’s being hyped, well their awfully proud of their LEED Gold certifications, which allows them to proclaim the Greeness of CityCenter. The seven ”World Class” Architectural Firms that were commissioned in the development of CityCenter, evidently MGM-Mirage management hasn’t heard of the adage “Too many Chefs spoil the broth”. Plus there’s the artwork, artwork is pervasive among the vast public spaces. The problem with hype is that it raises expectations and hence can lead to disappointment, and that is how I feel about CityCenter, disappointed. Although, if you ignore the hype and brush aside the tinge of disappointment, there are lots of good things to say about Citycenter.

No Purple Cow or Frank Gehry Wow

For over twenty years the go to Architect for “Wow” has been Frank Gehry. His stunning works include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain, the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago. These buildings are “Purple Cows” as defined by Seth Godin in his talk at TED. The Vegas Strip demands, and deserves, ‘Architectural Wow’. Even the staid Wynn and Encore towers have a quiet elegance that seems on the verge of popping with constrained energy. The two most interesting buildings in the CityCenter complex are the two appropriately named Veer Towers, designed by Helmut Jahn. The 37 story yellow checkered towers stand askew 5 degrees off of true vertical, in opposition to each other. Helmut Jahn’s work will be familiar to those that have flown United Airlines through O’Hare Airport, as he designed the 1987 updated terminal.

“(the towers) lean toward each other like a pair of drunken tourists careening down a hotel corridor at the end a very long night” Christopher Hawthorne’s in the LA Times

Veer Towers

So how does one take-in CityCenter from the Strip? From the strip your eyes are pulled directly to the Veer Towers and then follow the futuristic elevated monorail tracks that appears to exit the side of the towers, and then you see what looks like a large Corporate Business Park. Clearly someone dropped the design-ball somewhere along monorail tracks. The other interesting design aspect of Citycenter is the 500,000 sq ft Crystals shopping mall, exterior designed by Studio Daniel Liebeskind and interior by David Rockwell. The interior looks like a modern art museum, re-deployed in the service of high-end retail shops. Of course, part of the fun in visiting art museums is people watching the artsy and fashionably dressed patrons, not so much at Crystals. The gawkers at Crystals are more likely to be wearing t-shirts emblazoned with sexual double entendre and grasping a plastic souvenir objects filled with over-sweet margarita mix than the people featured in The Sartorialist

.

Crystals

While the Art Museum feel permeates much of CityCenter, is interesting, perhaps even exhilarating on the first walk through, it is hard to ignore the coldness that goes along with the design. MGM-Mirage executives have been hard at work removing as much kitch from their casinos as possible, gone is the wonderful Central Park high limit area at New York New York, along with all the trees. As much as many people like knocking the elaborately themed casinos on the Strip, the truth is these casinos create an environment that is conducive for fun and adult fantasy, and feel much warmer and inviting than CityCenter. I certainly don’t fault Jim Murren MGM-Mirage CEO for placing an emphasis on the architecture of CityCenter, and make no mistake of it, all the PR materials point to Murren as the instigator of the whole CityCenter project, and his subsequent close involvement. The aspiration of architects and the architecture they design is succinctly explained by Paul Goldberger in his recent book ”Why Architecture Matters”

…some will be transcendent and will tell you, more eloquently than anyone can express in words, of that aspect of human aspirations that makes us want to connect to what has come before, to make of it something different and our own, and to speak to those who will follow us. Paul Goldberger in Why Architecture Matters

Unfortunately for MGM -Mirage, and for Vegas Visitors, their reach far exceeded their grasp.

Moving inside, the first thing you notice is copious and conspicuous artwork. While I applaud the effort, my overall impression of the artwork is that it is rather bland. The surprising fact is, if you want to see an innovative and challenging corporate art collection you have to leave “Sin City” and travel to the Midwest, just outside Cleveland Ohio, and visit the Progressive Insurance Company. Peter Lewis, the former CEO of Progressive Insurance, and the driving force behind the tremendous growth of the company, credits the innovative and extensive art collection with helping create an environment where creativity thrives.

Let’s take a quick tour of some of the more notable Sculptures.

On the south walkway leading up to the entrance to Aria is a Claes Oldenburg sculpture “Typewriter Eraser”, which is just that, an oversized, old-fashioned typewriter eraser.

Typewriter Eraser - Claes Oldenburg

My first thought was, why not pick a more forward looking and modern object to decorate the walkway leading up to the ‘Future of Vegas’. My second thought was the scale is too small (19 x 11 x 11 ft.). When I think of Oldenburg’s work, I think of the 45 ft.tall Clothespin Sculpture in Center City (two words) Philadelphia. If you tell anyone in Philadelphia, I’ll meet you at the Clothespin at noon, they’ll know exactly where to meet you. Years from now if you tell someone in Vegas to meet you at the ‘Typewriter Eraser’, I’ll bet you’ll get a blank stare, or worse.

In front of the Vdara Hotel is a sculpture by Nancy Rubins, “Big Edge”

"Big Edge" Nancy Rubins

which looks remarkably similar to her sculpture at Lincoln Center in New York City. The large and colorful sculpture, composed of discarded small boats of various kinds, adds some color and excitement to its rather monotonous surroundings. This is my favorite sculpture at CityCenter.

Yes, there is a Henry Moore sculpture,” Reclining Connected Forms”

"Reclining Connected Forms" Henry Moore

located in a park-like area between Aria and Crystals. The sculpture will look very familiar to those familiar with his work. My favorite Henry Moore sculpture is his “Nuclear Energy” located at the exact site of the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction, at the University of Chicago.

The Maya Lin sculpture “Silver River” located behind Aria’s registration desk has garnered more than its fair share of CityCenter press PR. Maya Lin is best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which is most notable for the novel idea of including the names of all U.S. soldiers killed in the conflict on the actual sculpture. “Silver River” the 84 foot long 3,700 pound sculpture supposedly depicts the Colorado River. For a river that carved out the Grand Canyon, this sculpture makes the river appear rather unaccomplished. The PR materials make repeated reference to the fact that “reclaimed silver” was used in making the sculpture. I wasn’t aware that there was a problem of precious metals filling-up our land fills from people carelessly throwing their old jewelry in the trash!

Jenny Holzer has one of her LED Panels (266ft long) at Aria’s North Valet, which scrolls word phrases selected by the artist. My reaction to the sculpture was that, if technically possible, it should be Rickrolled.

There is a sculpture by Antony Gormley, evidently MGM-Mirage passed on a project he proposed for Seattle “Ejaculating Man” the proposed sculpture would have been 40ft high and would give an 11-second ejaculation of sea water every five minutes. Gormely stated “ I intended it as an ironic comment on the male figure in relation to the whole idea of a fountain, because everyone knows the fountain is a male fantasy of permanent ejaculation.” No word yet if MGM-Mirage is planning on making any changes to the “Fountains of Bellagio” display.

Dale Chihuly Gallery

Dale Chihuly

There is also a series of of Art Galleries on the South walkway leading to Aria. My favorite is the Dale Chihuly Gallery,

Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly

the artist responsible for the large glass sculpture on the ceiling of the Bellagio lobby. The gallery at CityCenter is much larger than the small shop he has at Bellagio. Next door to the Chihuly Gallery is the Richard Macdonald gallery, which features works inspired by various Cirque du Soleil characters.

Richard MacDonald

The person working at the Macdonald Gallery whispered to me that “Dale Chihuly’s work is quite commercial” which in the art world is most definitely not a Compliment.

My thought was that MacDonald’s work was equally commercial, which I don’t mean as a put-down. I enjoyed strolling through both galleries, as much or perhaps more than I did viewing the art displayed around the rest of CityCenter.

Richard MacDonald

Aria, Sotto Voce

The most noticeable thing about the casino at Aria is how unnoticeable the casino is. While many hotel/casinos in Vegas have the casinos designed to be forever “In Your Face” it feels like Aria has jumped to the other extreme. It makes you wonder, are MGM-Mirage executives embarrassed by the business they are in, and on some subconscious level trying to hide the casino, and cover it up with art work. The most interesting game I saw at Aria was “Triple Play Spin Video Poker”, which at the $1 level, lowest observed denomination, is $135 a spin. The folks at vpFree2 have yet to update their database, not a good sign.

Triple Spin Video Poker

While Aria is nicely designed, it left me with a “Cold” feeling.

The rooms at Aria are loaded-up with all the electronic gadgetry anyone could think of, and then some. Think along the lines: lighting; room temperature; and music can be set to your whim. The gadgetry reminded me of my purchase of a programmable coffee maker, which allows you to set the time when the coffee will be brewed. A very useful feature, in the five years I’ve owned the coffee maker, I’ve used that feature once, I had to make sure it worked! Perhaps the electronic wizardry came at the expense of room size, at 520 sq ft these rooms are smaller than the counterparts at Wynn and Venetian.

Aria, and its sister properties are loaded with high-end restaurants, many of the usual suspects like Michael Mina, the Michael Caine of the Vegas restaurant world. Jean-Georges Steakhouse is the only restaurant in Aria run by a Michelin Guide three star rated chef. An updated Las Vegas Michelin guide is not due until 2011, so it is unclear how is Aria effort will fare.

I was surprised to see a buffet at Aria, I thought for sure they would take the Venetian path and eschew the buffet as too declasse. Full of anticipation I tried the dinner buffet, assuming they were striving to supplant the buffet at Bellagio as the top buffet. Sorry to say, the buffet fell well short of Bellagio and Wynn. As a matter of fact, I ate at the buffet at Mandalay the following night, and preferred that buffet over Aria’s. The seating feels rather cramped and the look is upscale cafeteria. The raw bar was the largest I’ve seen at a buffet, and the sushi selection was slightly larger than other strip buffets, although still of a pre-made variety. Peking Duck and a few Korean dishes were the only novel items I noticed.

Elvis joins Cirque du Soleil

And guess what innovative new show was chosen for Aria, yet another Cirque du Soleil show, Elvis themed. They even posted one of those tacky posters advertising the show on the Harmon Hotel.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

The public relations materials is promiscuous with reference to the LEED certifications of CityCenter. CityCenter’s LEED certifications has the whiff of the wealthy environmentalist that flies around the country in his private jet, and yet assures you that the practice is environmentally sound because he buys carbon offsets to remain carbon neutral.

LEED is a Green Building rating system that addresses six major areas, from water efficiency(particularly important in Las Vegas) to design process. The idea of LEED is a laudable goal, probably better than the actual certification process. Like any committee driven process there are compromises and shortcomings. LEED guidelines are not climate specific, hence it is quite possible that optimal construction design in more temperate climes might be different than in the oven of Las Vegas. LEED also focuses on the end product not the whole process involved in construction and construction materials leading to sub-optimal results. I would have been more impressed with CityCenters involvement in LEED if they stated they were following the guidelines only where the result was optimal. The highest LEED certification is Platinum, not the Gold and Silvers garnered by CityCenter.

Where is the next Steve Wynn?

I guess $8.5 billion just doesn’t buy as much Wow as you would expect. As I was walking around CityCenter I kept thinking, I bet Steve Wynn would have done something more interesting with such a large budget. CityCenter feels like it was designed by committee, where what was required was a single visionary. There is much talk about CityCenter saving Vegas and spurring its economic recovery, when the fact is the other way around, Vegas will save CityCenter, eventually. CityCenter, One Word, Disappointing.